Should cops do favors for other cops?
That topic pops up here periodically - twice this year already. It's a touchy subject.
I respect police for the dangers and frustrations they endure. But a lot of suspicious folks think cops have one set of laws for civilians and another for brethren in blue.
Recently, one of my cop friends spotted an intriguing Web site called CopsWritingCops.com. It features postings by police who grouse about officers who write tickets to other cops.
Early, the Web page states, "This is a site for officers getting traffic tickets that ANY normal civilian could get a warning on, verbal or written."
But that's not the real spirit of the page, as it explains later:
"This is a site for cops, about cops, and designed by cops. ... There's always another ticket down the street. We are all family, and maybe someday you may need one of us to get out of our car and save your sorry (expletive)."
"... Rob a bank, deal drugs, steal, be corrupt - go to jail! But a ticket for speeding or improper lane usage, or even parking? Come on."
My cop friend hates this site. So do several officers he showed it do. He feels police must be held to the same standard as civilians. Plus, he sees the site as triggering unnecessary public distrust of cops.
"What are these guys thinking?" he told me.
I couldn't get ahold of anyone with the Web site. But below you can find a few postings, which I've edited for brevity.
Make up your own mind as to whether these cops were justified in feeling persecuted. But think about this: Would a civilian have been let off easy?
A little speeding: I got stopped by a California Highway Patrol officer for doing 103 in a 75. It was early in the morning, not that many cars on the road. I apologized for speeding and asked if it would help if I was a New York state trooper. He went back to his vehicle and wrote me the ticket."
No courtesy: I was on Interstate 39 approaching Wausau, Wis. I had the cruise set at 83 in a 65 zone. As I crest a hill I saw a trooper and he has me dead to rights. I pull to the shoulder and stop. I said, "I apologize. If it makes a difference I do the same job that you do when I'm home in Illinois." He responded, "You Illinois boys need to learn to slow down. I'll knock it down to 15 over and save you some money."
I said, "Have you ever heard of professional courtesy?" He got offended and replied, "I was a city cop, a county cop, and now I work for the state. Each time I took the oath. Nowhere in there did it say that I could break the law."
Give relatives a break: My brother was pulled over twice in Downers Grove, once for speeding and once for running a red light. One officer wrote my brother for the red light, and a part-timer wrote him for speeding. When my brother advised both officers that his brother was a police officer two towns over and that he was close friends with a DuPage County sheriffs detective, both officers replied, " I don't know those guys. Pay your ticket." ...
These towns need to be shamed for what they are doing.
Girlfriends, too: My girlfriend ... was stopped for speeding by this officer. She told him where I worked and what I did (police officer). He said that he didn't care and wrote her anyway. .... The officer said, "He can pay for it."
